Council To Decide On Airport’s Future.

There is yet another article in today’s Sunshine Coast Daily regarding the future of the Caloundra Airport. The text of the article can be viewed below or you can visit the Sunshine Coast daily article webpage HERE. See links in the posts below for the preceding 3 articles from the Sunshine Coast Daily. You can visit the Sunshine Coast daily online a http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/

Future of airport up to council

Bill Hoffman | 14th April 2010

THE council will meet next Tuesday to begin a process to determine the fate of Caloundra aerodrome.

Planning head Russell Green admitted yesterday that planning for the area had long been predicated on the understanding that the state government intended to relocate the aerodrome.

Planning Minister Stirling Hinchliffe’s announcement that relocation would not occur and that its future was now in council hands had shifted the goal posts, Councillor Green said.

He said the decision had obviously been too hard for the state and it had pushed the aerodrome’s future back on to council.

“The last thing they need during the present economic struggle is uncertainty.”

Tuesday’s meeting will include a full briefing by staff about the impacts of retaining the aerodrome or closing it and relocating businesses to Sunshine Coast Airport, and set timelines for a decision.

The discussions will be led by councillors Tim Dwyer and Anna Grosskreutz, who have experience with the issues from their days on Caloundra City Council, and council head planner Warren Bunker, who was the former Caloundra City planner.

“I can’t say categorically one way or the other (what that decision may be),” Cr Green said. “My understanding was always that it was moving.”

The fate of a bid to fast-track further stages of the Bellvista estate is certain to depend on the aerodrome closing. Council is unlikely to approve any further development within the flight path.

The airport’s continued operation would also mean a complete reworking of the Caloundra South structure plan, which the minister insisted be displayed for public comment before a decision was made.

The aerodrome is earmarked in the plan as the location for a rail station and transport-oriented community with urban, retail and commercial development giving it status as a key business activity centre.

The existence of the activity centre was a key argument in favour of an open-to-the-street business centre for Caloundra South as opposed to the new green field development being defined by a big box shopping centre surrounded by car parking.

The airport’s fate was considered sealed by 2006 when the council decided not to extend leases beyond 2014 because of the state’s decision to relocate the facility.